It’s been almost three months since a York Region Police officer shot Moses Erhirhie dead. And his family still don’t know why.
His family were joined by a crowd of supporters, family and friends who chanted “Justice for Moses” in front of the Special Investigations Unit office in Mississauga on March 19. So far, silence remains its official response.
Erhirhie was in a car Jan. 21 with a woman in a Markham plaza parking lot when he was confronted by York police responding to a suspicious person call. The SIU reported there was an altercation and the Etobicoke man was shot and killed.
The SIU investigates cases where civilians were seriously injured, killed or report a sexual assault during interactions with police.
Abby Erhirhie, the dead man’s older sister, said the lack of answers from the SIU in her brother’s death was beyond shameful.
“Put yourself in our family’s shoes, your loved one was killed 60 days ago and you don’t have any idea why,” she said. “This is heartbreaking.”
It’s a familiar story for Claudette Beals-Clayton, whose daughter Regis Korchinski-Paquet died in March 2020 after she fell off her apartment building’s 24th floor balcony in Toronto after an interaction with police.
Police officers involved in the incident were cleared of any wrongdoing by the SIU in her death. But Beals-Clayton doesn’t accept the SIU’s conclusions.
“Regis was the anchor for our family and the police took that way from us,” she told about 50 protesters. Beals-Clayton said the SIU always seems to regularly side with police in violent or deadly incidents.
In response, the crowd chanted “Justice for Regis.”
“Silence, not even an apology for your crimes,” the protesters yelled.
Jamal Francique’s family shared accounts of their son’s death who was killed by police in January 2020.
A Peel Police officer shot Francique, 28, four times in his vehicle after an alleged altercation.
The altercation left Francique, a father of two, on life support, but he later succumbed to his injuries three days later.
The officer was later cleared by the SIU, reporting its investigation found no reasonable grounds to criminally charge the officer.
Francique’s father Derek told protesters his son has received no justice and the family lives with the sorrow of his death every day.
So many questions regarding Francique’s case don’t make sense, he told protesters. Derek said the SIU has little regard for his family.
“What our family has to go through is a lot of anguish and pain, the SIU claims they’re here to protect but they’ve given us nothing. All we feel is anger,” he said.
The protest was intended to bring awareness to the death of Erhirhie by instituting heartbreaking testimonies of families in Toronto struggling with their own trauma with police-related killings.
The protest ended but still silence lingered from the investigators’ office. But shadows of people appeared through the tinted windows of the corporate office as SIU staff watched protesters from their office. But it brought no response.
The crowd yelled one last chant: “Justice for Moses, Justice for Regis, Justice for Jamal.”
But as much as protesters yell and plead for their brothers, sons, daughters, and loved ones, the group knows that for better or worse, justice remains steadfastly in the hands of the SIU.
For more information on ways to get involved with the Moses Erhirhie case, contact https://www.instagram.com/justice4moses/